NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Over the last few years, controversy over Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest has spread all the way from the name of a hall on MTSU's campus to a bust of the former grand wizard of the KKK in the state capitol, grabbing big headlines along the way.
But just last month, in one of the outgoing metro council's final acts, Nashville lawmakers quietly voted to remove just one letter from the name of an East Nashville street: the group changed Forrest Avenue to Forest Avenue.
But Metro's Historical Commission says there's no evidence Forest Ave., formerly Forrest Ave., was ever named for the general.
Instead, historical maps reveal a tree theme on nearby east Nashville streets, with names like Elm and Pine. To this day, Woodland and Holly streets sit just around the corner.
The commission says the name change marked a return to the street's original spelling, fitting in with that theme: Forest.
The Metro Historical Commission says Metro Planning maps from as early as 1887 list the spelling of the street as Forest. But in faint pencil markings shown on that map, someone, at some point, inserted another 'R' into the name.
Just five years after that map was drawn, a Metro planning map showed the street as "Forrest."
While some later maps reverted to the street's original spelling, by 1913 the Historical Commission says the second 'R' took hold, without any reason why in the historical record.
Stayed that is, until about a month ago with the council's vote. A return to the past in East Nashville with one letter; a small change that some neighbors say is not very small at all.
